Let's start with something new for the season, amaranth greens. I planted two varieties this fall, Thai Tender and Tender Green, both of which are dwarf varieties but putting out lush big leaves. This harvest was a nice surprise. I set out a bunch of seedlings but most of them were munched by birds or bugs, or they were wilted to death in a heat wave that hit before the seedlings could become well established. But the surviving plants are flourishing and the first harvest was enough for two good servings.
Most of the fall radishes are sizing up well.
 |
| Pink Beauty, Helios, and Pink Punch radishes |
The struggling bean vines are giving me a decent amount of beans, I got three harvests like this this week.
 |
| Emerite Filet and Australian Butter beans |
Another parade of peppers came from the garden.
 |
| Odessa Market and Piment doux long des Landes |
 |
| Giallo di Cuneo |
 |
| Shephard's Ramshorn |
 |
| Sonora |
 |
| Lady Bell, NTR, Topepo Rosso, and Stocky Red Roaster |
I roasted a lot of the peppers and froze them, but I also experimented with smoking some of them. I'll be writing a post about that sometime soon.
 |
| Smoked ripe Sonora peppers |
 |
| Smoked NTR and Piment doux long des Landes peppers |
A few more tomatoes ripened up. The birds discovered the tomatoes and I lost a number of them to their pecking before I figured out what was up.
 |
| Chianti Rose tomatoes |
But for whatever reason the birds don't seem to like the Jaune Flamme tomatoes. I also harvested more cherry tomatoes but didn't photograph them.
 |
| Jaune Flamme tomatoes |
 |
| Tromba d'Albenga zucchini |
Oh My Gosh. This is what happens when I don't get around to picking cucumbers for a couple of days.
 |
| Green Fingers Persian cucumbers |
And of course there's more cucumbers a day or two later. Thank goodness the Padrons have slowed down. I only have to harvest them once a week now.
 |
| Padron peppers and Green Fingers cucumbers |
More Tromba squash and the third harvest of beans for the week. Even the big Tromba squash are good, especially the long neck portion which has no seeds.
The Di Ciccio broccoli plants put out a few more shoots. They are getting smaller as the plants age but they are still tasty. I also salvaged the heart of a head of Sweetie Baby romaine lettuce that was too pitiful to photograph. The romaine lettuce was coming along beautifully and then seemingly overnight it seemed like both powdery mildew and spider mites attacked. (PM and spider mites have both been scourges this year). And I also tallied another sweet red onion. I didn't weigh all the onions at once when they had cured, I've been tallying them as I use them. I'm amazed at how well they have kept. There's only three left, I'll be sad when they are gone, they have been SO good. The tally for the red onions is 23.6 pounds so far, the Candy onions came in at 20.7 pounds and the Superstar onions at 25.9 pounds. I also harvested 15 pounds of "spring" onions.
Here's the details of the harvests for the past week:
Amaranth greens - 14.2 oz.
Australian Butter beans - 13.5 oz.
Emerite Filet beans - 13.3 oz.
Di Ciccio Broccoli - 9.3 oz.
Green Fingers cucumbers - 5 lb., 13.7 oz.
Sweetie Baby romaine lettuce - 6.8 oz.
Red Candy Apple onion - 2 lb., .7 oz. (yup, just one big one!)
Giallo di Cuneo bell peppers - 2 lb., 2.3 oz.
Lady Bell peppers - 2 lb., .3 oz.
NTR peppers - 12.9 oz.
Odessa Market peppers - 1 lb., 11.7 oz.
Padron peppers - 8.9 oz.
Piment doux long des Landes peppers - 14.2 oz.
Shephard's Ramshorn peppers - 3 lb., 5.1 oz.
Sonora peppers - 5 lb., 14.7 oz.
Stocky Red Roaster peppers - 11.7 oz.
Topepo Rosso peppers - 5.4 oz.
Helios radishes - 5.3 oz.
Pink Beauty radishes - 2.1 oz.
Pink Punch radishes - 8.9 oz.
Selzer Purple radishes - 6.2 oz.
Chianti Rose tomatoes - 7 lb., 10.3 oz.
Isis Candy cherry tomatoes - 36.5 oz.
Jaune Flamme tomatoes - 3 lb., 11.3 oz.
Potiron Ecarlate tomatoes - 3 lb., 7.8 oz.
Sweet Gold cherry tomatoes - 2 lb., 15.6 oz.
Tromba d'Albenga zucchini - 7 lb., 4.8 oz.
The total harvests for the past week were - 58 lb., 11.5 oz. (26.6 kg.)
Which brings the total harvests for 2014 up to - 1,071 lb., 15.5 oz. (486.2 kg.)
Harvest Monday is hosted by Daphne on her blog Daphne's Dandelions, head on over there to see what other garden bloggers have been harvesting lately.
Just unbelievable. It's a wonder your harvest basket hasn't fallen apart. Envy is not the word.
ReplyDeleteReally amazing for end of season. And fall planting of cucumbers is a concept I don't understand, living in the frozen north. Looking forward to hearing about the smoked peppers.
ReplyDeleteIt's a new one for me as well, I've never planted them this late before!
DeleteI think you will like the smoked peppers. Smoking them adds a complete new dimension to the taste. I ground some smoked ones into powder which was similar to the Spanish pimento. What are you going to do with all those cucumbers? They don't keep so well, do they (unless you pickle them, I suppose). Smoked cucumbers, anyone??
ReplyDeleteThe peppers certainly smell good, but I haven't sampled any yet. Ah, the cucumber glut. I did give some away last week, but I (we) have been eating a lot of them. Cucumbers in my morning yogurt, in my lunch salad, in my dinner salad. One way I use up a large amount is to slice them thinly, salt them, then squeeze out as much liquid as possible and make a smashed cucumber salad. But no, I don't make pickles, I don't particularly like pickles. Smoked cucumbers, I have to laugh! 😊
DeleteWow - you weren't kidding when you said you were catching up on your harvests. This post just seemed like one delectable veg after another. I agree with you on the Tromboncino squash - I let it get quite big before harvesting and it was still very tender & delicious with no need to peel.
ReplyDeleteMy Candy and Superstar onions kept well for me too, and I will also miss them when they are gone! I am anxious to hear about the smoked peppers. I think I will have a few to harvest that might be good candidates. I am already loving what the oven roasting did for Aji Angelo, and I would imagine the smoking kicks up the flavor yet another notch (or two). Love those Green Fingers cukes too! They are long gone here but they did well for me this year.
ReplyDeleteHow delightful to have such a long growing season. This sure is a varied and bountiful harvest, I will have to wait until next year to harvest the garden bounty you are still enjoying.
ReplyDeleteYou continue to have the most amazing pepper harvests! I'll be interested in seeing your year-end tally - it seems like you have pounds and pounds every week. I LOVE smoked peppers - I didn't do any this year as I still have a jar from 3 years ago - smoked and dried ancho. Incredible in a chili dish (especially lamb chili). And yours are such a great, rich colour!
ReplyDeleteThose peppers look delicious! Awesome harvests this week. I tried a fall planting of cucumbers and they were quickly destroyed by bugs. I'm not even sure which bug to blame.
ReplyDeleteLovely harvests. It always amazes me the harvests you get so late in the fall with your climate. And that is a lot of cucumbers to eat up if you don't like pickles. I found three pickling cukes a day was my limit for cucumber salad per day. Then I had to try to give them away.
ReplyDelete